It's all about Wisconsin...

tessa1175August 20, 2007

...I am somewhat in awe, I am new to this site and gardening in Wisconsin apparently is quite a group as there doesn't seem to be another state featured.

At any rate, I am new to gardening and have run into an issue with a vine throughout my garden that comes up through several inches of mulch, newspaper, anything that I've put down. It has morning glory-like flowers and has made progress on pulling down my tomatoes, lilacs, cucumbers - anything it gets near.

I have heard that these are a common issue throughout Wisconsin - does anyone have any suggestions?

I keep pulling the darn things but I just keep thinking that there has to be a better way.

about the only thing I can recommend is moving to the desert where it doesn't grow!!! Just kidding! I would love to hear other's response to this question as I have tons of "bind weed" I think they call it. I have tried for years to get rid of it with little luck! I swear if you stand still in the garden long enough it will take humans down too! Let's hope someone has a good answer!
Paula in Janesville

Good question, and yes it is bind weed. The roots are so deep that you can't really pull it and get the entire root. After I pull it I keep telling myself that when it grows back I'm going to try to untangle it from whatever it's growing on, then sponge Round-up on it.

Are you over-run with Purslane as well? That low growing succulent that seems to invade like the plague? That stuff drives me crazy!

Lots and lots of Purslane in our raised bed, but none in the "lawn"(all weeds)around the bed. Makes me wonder if the purslane seed comes with the bags of manure I buy for the garden bed. Had this happen when I lived on the west coast, too. I built some raised beds and bought bags of manure to mix in with soil purchased from the county and had Purslane sprouting all over the place. At least it's easy to pull. Bindweed is another matter. Sponging or painting on Round-up should help, as it is absorbed and translocated to the roots to kill it "where it lives". If there is a really big patch of it, pull what you can first, then use the Round-up on the new growth that comes up from what's left and give it time to get to the roots.

Welcome Teresa! I had bindweed where I lived before. All I did was keep pulling it up. That did help to keep it under control better. I have purslane now. It's easy to pull out, but there's always some growing somewhere in my gardens. The one I hate the most is creeping Charlie. It's just taking over the lawn on one side of my home and it's trying to get in my gardens. I wouldn't mind it in the lawn, but I don't want it in my gardens.
Teresa, if you look at the main forum page where it lists all the different forums, a lot of states have a forum listed. There are also many forums for different plants and other things. Some are very busy forums and others are quite slow. But check them out and enjoy!

Bindweed is (as stated above), an annual. Keep it from going to flower & you're all set for future years. Cultivated morning glory is no better behaved so consider yourself warned. Purslane is actually edible & is considered a salad ingredient. Also an annual, a heavy mulch keeps it mostly under control. Creeping Charlie is best controlled by relocating to a different state or by extending your concrete patio to the outer corners of your yard.

It really seems to depend on where you are and what color morning glory you planted. If you look under the thread about "what annuals reseed in your garden" you can read a discussion on morning glory. It seems to behave differently depending on your garden. I've only ever had the purple (Grandpa Ott) reseed. "Heavenly Blue" and the Japanese kinds with variagated leaves I have to restart from seed every year.

It seems that what I call bindweed (or wild morning glory) is different from the bindweed in the link as it is clearly an annual. The danger in using common names is illustrated yet again but I have enough trouble with gardeners Latin already. I'm sure not going to learn the Latin names for weeds.

Well Bob, I didn't know bindweed was also called 'creeping Jenny'. I just told my hubby about your comment on controlling creeping Charlie...'Creeping Charlie is best controlled by relocating to a different state or by extending your concrete patio to the outer corners of your yard.' He just cracked up! LOL!! As soon as this rain lets up in a few days, I'm going to paint Roundup around a couple of my gardens. Like I said before, I don't mind it in the lawn (it stays green longer than the grass does), but I don't want it in my gardens.

Creeping Charlie is pretty, also has a nice minty scent, also has pretty blue dainty Spring flowers. But I'm not sure you'd want it spreading in your lawn, since it will eventually take over, and you'll have no more grass. I try to spread a weed killer over the backyard lawn every year to control the C.Charlie. This year I misjudged where the wheels overlapped as I made swipes back & forth, and I have a few parallel strips of C.Ch. running horizontal in my lawn. Looks silly. With all this rain it's gaining ground and spreading rapidly, but I can't do anything about it, because it KEEPS RAINING! I'll have to attack it again next Spring.

Kat, if I were you, I wouldn't let that creepy Charlie run rampant.....you may be sorry.

Julie, my hubby uses a weed 'n feed every Fall. This stuff hasn't stop Creeping Charlie at all. I think he uses the Scott's brand. As far as I'm concerned, I wouldn't mind Creeping Charlie taking over the lawn. It stays greener longer and looked a lot better than the grass did when we had hot dry weather. But...and that's a big but...I don't want it in my gardens. I'm going to have to regularly put Roundup around the edges of the gardens to keep it out. What kind of weed killer do you use? It's in our neighbor's yard too. It actually started there and spread to ours. Our neighbor doesn't use anything on his lawn. He has a great raised bed in his back yard that the previous owner had put in. I would have loved it! All that grows in it are weeds. It's a mess. But anyways, if you can recommend something that will control Creeping Charlie, I would appreciate it.

One thing to consider about leaving the creeping charlie in your lawn is that those pretty blue flowers will make seeds which you will inadvertently pick up on the bottom of your shoes, then they will get planted into the garden beds. If you have a dog, it's even more likely seeds will be planted into your garden.

Ortho Weed-b-Gone works pretty well on creeping charlie and won't hurt lawn grass. Once you get rid of all the visible creeping charlie, and the lawn grows back in those areas, you will think you have conquered the weed. In a season or some of the billions of creeping charlie seeds that are nestled in your sod will sprout and it starts all over again. Reread what bob wrote. lol

Bindweed is a perennial weed. It grows from a corky tuber deep in the ground...I have only managed to find ONE of these and it was quite by accident. It spreads by underground shoots that pop up everywhere. The only real way to get of it is to pull, pull, and pull some more. Chemicals help...but they're not a cure all. I have read about a pest of this plant that they are experimenting with in the west called "Bindweed Gall Mite". Supposedly it controls it but it is still experimental and though offered in other states, it is not offered here yet. I can't wait until it is...LOL I have this C**P also.

I used Preen, Broadleaf Weed Control. You can use it anytime weeds are growing - Spring, Summer or Fall. But you may have to use two or three applications (a few weeks apart) to get all the weeds. Just make sure you overlap your passes so you don't get silly stripes of weeds in your lawn like I did. You will need to do this every year, because Creeping Charlie comes back every year.

Thanks for the advice Julie and Janet. Janet, how often do you have to use that Ortho weed killer?
Dave, It scares me when I hear about them trying out a 'pest' on getting rid of plants or other pests. Things can and do go haywire.

Weed B Gone is the only thing that we have used that will keep creeping charlie under control in the lawn that we know of. It came with a rhubarb plant that I got from my mom 25 years ago. It has traveled into the woods and horse pasture. Try the Weed B Gone.

I once read that creeping charlie was allergic to boron. So I bought some 20 mule team borax & made a solution & sprayed it on the creeping charlie. It made the weeds very clean. So we moved & now, no more creeping charlie.
But at this house, we have annual "bindweed". I will not wash it.

Well, hubby and I don't want to move, but maybe we could extend the patio to the edges of our lot like you suggested earlier Bob. Then I could do container gardening all around the patio! LOL!!
Shirley, I will look into the Weed B Gone. I just don't want something I have to put down more than twice a year...like in Spring and Fall. I don't have the time and I don't like using chemicals much. But I will look into all that was mentioned.
Thank you all for the suggestions.

I bought some 20 mule team borax & made a solution & sprayed it on the creeping charlie. It made the weeds very clean.
LOL, Bob!
I tried the Borax on my Creepy Charlie one year (sprinkling full strength - w/o mixing w/water), and killed it, but it left such awful brown spots in the lawn (killing the grass also), and took a year to recover. So, I don't use it on weeds in the lawn anymore. However, I still use the Borax on the C. Charlie between the edge of my backyard shade garden and the woods, where the creep threatens to invade. Kills well, but have to apply every year.

My neighbor used it on their lawn, which wasn't really lawn anymore, mostly creeping charlie. They had to spot spray the following year because the seeds will germinate, but the plants that they treated didn't come back.

It's best to treat creeping charlie when it is actively growing, so now would be a good time. That is if it stopped raining.

I know one way to kill it. And everything else in the vicinity. We used to have a big patch of it in our backyard in Connecticut (where I grew up). My dad was setting off M80's by throwing them onto an area that was just dirt (where the dog was tied to a tree during the day). Well he overthrew one and it landed under the peach tree where the creeping charlie was. Big perfect circle where the creeping charlie never grew back. Not much else ever grew there for a few years either but.... whatever works, right? :)

My 2 cents on it all this is the Preen. I used in my flower bed and it worked wonders. They only thing about preen is it can't be used with seeds. It has to used with plants that already have a good root. But other than that, it works really good for me.